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SALT LAKE CITY — The relationship between the Utah Jazz and Adrian Dantley hasn't always been the best, to put things lightly.
Dantley often clashed with Frank Layden during his star-turning (and, you could make the case, franchise-saving) run with the Jazz from 1979-86, and even had a brief contract holdout in 1984.
So despite Dantley helping bring legitimacy to the franchise and pushing it to the playoffs for the first time, the Jazz were eager to see him go when they traded the six-time All-Star to Detroit in 1986.
''The biggest benefit to us in the Adrian Dantley trade was addition by subtraction," said then-Jazz president Dave Checketts the season following the trade. "We knew we had to get rid of him, and we were never so happy to get rid of a guy in the history of the franchise.''
His relationship with the organization has come a long way since then.
That began when Larry H. Miller made the long awaited call to retire his jersey in 2007, and continued on Saturday with Dantley back in town to be honored as one of Utah's former All-Stars in the lead-up to All-Star Weekend.
Dantley stood at center court, waved at the cheering fans, and bowed graciously as many in the sold-out crowd gave him a standing ovation. If there was a constant positive for Dantley during his years in Utah, it was those home fans.
"I loved Utah when I was here; fans were great to me," Dantley said. "And I wish I could have ended my career here; it didn't happen. But six, seven years I was here, I had a great time. We started off the franchise."
Dantley was traded to Jazz by the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Spencer Haywood in 1979. He went from being on a team who would go on to win the NBA title in 1980 to one who was just happy to be in the league.
"When I first got here, we were almost like an expansion team," Dantley said. "Guys going in and out. Pete Maravich was here … but he wasn't the same. He had flashes, but not consistent. And we just had to get players to survive."
The team was a far cry from the multi-billion dollar venture it is now. The Jazz even played a couple handful of "home" games in Las Vegas between 1983-85 to try and make more money.
"The players was concerned about it a little bit," Dantley recalled of the team's financial situation, "but they were also worrying about getting traded, getting put on waivers. But each year started getting better and better."
That was led by Dantley. He went to six All-Star games, won the scoring title twice, and averaged nearly 30 points per game during his seven-year run in Utah.
Dantley helped take the Jazz from a glorified expansion team to perennial playoff contender. The other major star? Layden, the lovably eccentric former general manager and head coach. Well, lovable to most at least.
Dantley and Layden didn't often see eye to eye. And after he was traded from Utah, Dantley said it was "good to be out of the situation." But there are still some fond memories.
"He would get other fans or visiting teams to laugh at him," Dantley said of Layden. "He'd go ask a ball boy for a cup of water and he'd say, 'You drink it first before you try to poison me.'"
With Dantley and Layden, the Jazz made their first playoff appearance in 1983, which was the first of 20 straight consecutive trips to the postseason.
"Team started getting better and better. We got to the playoff," Dantley said. "There we started drafting. Malone came in and Stockton came in."
Strained relationship aside, it all started with Dantley.
Layden even advocated for Dantley to get his number retired by the Jazz (which finally happened in 2007) and for him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (which came in 2008).
"Utah has always been a great franchise — trust me. All the coaches, all the players that I've talked to, they hate playing against Utah," Dantley said.
And he got to feel part of that hate, too.
Back in 2010, Dantley was the interim coach for the Denver Nuggets and was bested by the Jerry Sloan-led Jazz in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. That, he said, was the last time before Saturday that he was back to Utah. What does he remember from that playoff series?
"I remember you guys beating us," he daeadpanned.
Saturday, though, seemed like win a for all involved.
